Question

There are three different basketball teams and each has played five games. You have each team's score from each of its games. 54 Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 Jaguars 67 87 Wolves 85 90 44 80 46 Lions 32 101 65 88 55 1. Suppose you want to join one of the three basketball teams. You want to join the one that is doing the best so far. If you rank each team by their mean scores, which team would you join? 2. Instead of using mean scores, you use the median score of each team to make your decision. Which team do you join? 3. Pretend you are the coach of the Lions and you were being interviewed about your team for the local newspaper. Would it be better for you to report your mean score or your median score?

Answer 1

1)

	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Mean score
Jaguars	67	87	54	99	78	77
Wolves	85	90	44	80	46	69
Lions	32	101	65	88	55	68.2

Mean score of Jaguars = ( 67 + 87 + 54 + 99 + 78 ) $\div$ 5

Mean score of Jaguars = 77

Mean score of Wolves = ( 85 + 90 + 44+ 80 + 46 ) $\div$ 5

Mean score of Wolves = 69

Mean score of Lions = ( 32 + 101 + 65 + 88 + 55 ) $\div$ 5

Mean score of Lions = 68.2

Based on the mean score, it is recommended to join Jaguars team because it has the highest mean score compared to other teams.

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2)

Median is the middle term of the observation and the number of observation is 5 games.

As there are odd number of games i.e. 5, the median is the score obtained in game 3.

Median of Jaguars = 54

Median of Wolves = 44

Median of Lions = 65

The median value divides the score into two equal halves and it suggest what score each team earns 50% of the time.

Based on the median score, it is recommended to join Lions team because 50% of the time, team lion scores 65 whereas 50% of the time, Jaguar team scores 54.

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3)

It is better to report the median score than the mean score because the median denotes what score the team earns 50% of the time. Hence the median is a better indicator than mean .